Overview
Pregnancy comes with a lot of pleasant and unpleasant complications, constipation being one of them. It’s the sudden hormonal changes and the body adjusting to growing a new human that ends up affecting the bowel movement in a pregnant woman. However, the condition is fairly common and can be managed with medical interventions.
What is Pregnancy Constipation?
Pregnancy constipation is nothing different than the complaints of constipation you have otherwise. It is marked by an irregular bowel movement, making it harder for you to poop. Since the body undergoes a lot of hormonal changes during pregnancy, experiencing constipation during that phase is fairly common.
In fact, pregnancy constipation happens when the waste products harden and accumulate in the lower part of the digestive tract, instead of being expelled out of the body. The condition is often temporary during pregnancy and manageable with medications.
Who does it Affect?
Several pregnant women experience constipation once in a while during their pregnancy. There are no standard risk factors associated with it.
However, the occurrence of pregnancy constipation typically increases as the hormonal levels in the body start rising or fluctuating as one progresses in the pregnancy. The condition primarily happens during the second or third trimester.
How Common is Pregnancy Constipation?
Pregnancy constipation is fairly common and affects around 16-39% of pregnant women during their pregnancy term. The numbers might vary but the incidence of an irregular bowel movement typically increases during the third trimester, especially when the fetus is close to delivery.
However, that doesn’t mean that the complication doesn’t happen during the first or second trimester because it does. It is a very subjective experience and varies from one pregnant woman to the other.
